Green jobs in renewable energy, among other sectors, should be at the heart of the Covid-19 recovery in the UK to ensure long-term growth, according to a new report from the London School of Economics (LSE) and Political Science.
The report – ‘Jobs for a strong and sustainable recovery from Covid-19’ – which was published today by the LSE’s Centre for Economic Performance and the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment suggests that tens of thousands of jobs could be created.
Investing in jobs that will help the UK meet its net-zero carbon emissions target for 2050 will also help to deliver the government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda, creating work across the country in the near term and setting the groundwork for sustainable and resilient longer-term economic growth, the authors said.
They set out six areas where government investment could create jobs and advance the fight against climate change that includes clean power generation, distribution and storage.
Other areas are: carbon capture, use and storage, and blue and green hydrogen production; electric vehicle production and charging infrastructure; energy efficiency in buildings; natural capital projects; and active travel equipment and infrastructure, such as bicycles and cycle lanes.
The authors added that there will also be longer-term employment and growth benefits as global demand for cleaner and more environmentally-friendly products and technologies is set to increase rapidly.
For example, the UK already has manufacturing strengths in a number of green technologies, including making parts for wind turbines.
The report recommends that investments that create jobs in the short term should be complemented by investments, policies and incentives for building innovation and skills to meet these longer-term challenges.
Report co-author Sam Unsworth said: “There is an urgent and immediate demand for labour-intensive and hence job-creating investments that will address large-scale unemployment triggered by the Covid-19 crisis.
“The job-creating investments we set out in our report are key to meeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.
“These investments are complementary to each other since they are likely to create near-term employment opportunities across a number of regions, supporting a UK-wide recovery from Covid-19 and helping to prevent places from being left behind.”
Northern Powergrid policy and marketing director Patrick Erwin said: “The latest report from LSE about the ways Net Zero emissions targets will support economic recovery completely echoes our own approach.
“As the electricity network operator for the North East, Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire we already employ 2,700 team members who are at the very heart of the changing energy landscape.
“In the coming years we’ll see this workforce – current and new team members – play an increasingly important role that will not only support net zero efforts but be the cornerstone of local economic growth.
“We stand ready to work in partnership and urge all business leaders in our area to come together to strengthen the economic outlook for our region through a clean, green recovery.”